ShoppingTown Mall has until Wednesday to follow a federal bankruptcy judge’s order and make it’s 2020 Onondaga County and Town of Dewitt tax payment.
The county did receive two checks from the mall in December totaling $135,000.
The first check, $110,000, paid the current year’s school taxes. The second check, $25,000, is the first payment towards the outstanding tax debt of over $10 million.
“Certainly we didn’t exchange Christmas cards. We’ll let the lawyers do the talking now, our days of conversing are over,” says Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon.
The Federal Bankruptcy Court judge last month ordered the mall’s owner to start paying all current tax bills and get on a $25,000 per month payment plan for the back taxes.
McMahon says, “I would say there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We’re not encouraged yet. Frustrated, wasn’t even the right word where we were, so now we see some light, we’re happy with that, our liabilities we’re no longer paying out.”
He explained that every time the mall didn’t pay its town and school district taxes, Onondaga County would make those payments so those entities were not hurt.
McMahon says Onondaga County did get a tax check from ShoppingTown Mall last week for another $25,000 towards those back taxes.
“We always thought in 2020 this will come to some sort of conclusion. Hopefully it’s a conclusion where the property owner, whomever that will be, is investing in the property, the county gets paid back some money, and going forward this will be an asset for the community again,” McMahon tells NewsChannel 9.
ShoppingTown Mall has been granted the right to challenge the mall’s assessment for the past three years only.
Published by WSYR-TV
